New Star Wars game confirmed for E3

LucasArts is set to announce the ‘newest game franchise in the Star Wars universe’ at E3 next week, hinting that the new title is something other than Star Wars: Battlefront III.

Can LucasArts return to their glory days?

For months now LucasArts has been rumoured to be unveiling at least one new game at E3 and now they’ve confirmed exactly that, with American TV channel Spike TV – the same one that hosts the VGA awards each December – announcing they have exclusive early access to the game.

The rumours have never been clear as to exactly what the game, or games, will be but the most common assumption has always been that it’s a new version of the much troubled Star Wars: Battlefront III .

But given Spike TV’s wording that doesn’t seem to be the case, as they announce plans to, ‘exclusively unveil the newest game franchise in the Star Wars universe’.If it’s a new franchise that presumably means it’s nothing to do with Battlefront or other existing series such as Dark Forces/Jedi Knight and X-Wing/TIE Fighter.Although the game is set to make its full debut at E3, Spike will be revealing the first details this Thursday (probably very late Thursday, from our perspective, if it’s American TV).’I am blown away by both the calibre of the team on this project and their bold vision for this new Star Wars title,’ said Spike TV’s Geoff Keighley. ‘I can’t wait to introduce our viewers to this game and show off the footage that left my jaw on the floor when I first saw it.’Interestingly the Spike TV website then mentions that Keighley will be travelling to San Francisco for ‘exclusive behind-the-scenes access into the LucasArts studio’, which implies that the game is being developed internally at LucasArts – rather than at an independent developer.Up till now it’s not been clear whether LucasArts ever intended to make their own games again, after the troubled development of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II saw its producer quitting the company months before it was finished.Since the game’s release in 2010 LucasArts has not made a single other game themselves, and have acted as little more than licensors to titles such as Star Wars: The Old Republic and Kinect Star Wars.

If this means they’re returning to in-house development then it could open the door to not just more Star Wars games but also new Indiana Jones titles, and perhaps even the original non-movie based games that they used to be famous for.Video:Check out the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II trailer